Being a kid that grew up in the coal fields of Kentucky one of the main recreational activities we had was watching the local coal trains come and go. I never really had an interest in anything related to railroads until about two years ago when I started listening to the local trains on my scanner. Being an electrical engineer with a background in RF, VHF radio was interesting to me. From here it kind of grew into a hobby about the local history about railroading around the Raleigh/Durham area. I set up my own internet scanner feed for the area and have a website that looks at places to visit and railfan around North Carolina. Check it out at http://www.rtprailfan.com.